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November 13, 2015 CapitalPress.com 9 TPP could boost California ag exports, researchers say and food products have a worldwide reputation for high quality, and our ports have the ability to deliver those SURGXFWV HI¿FLHQWO\´ &)%) president Paul Wenger said in a statement. He added that increased farm exports would lead to jobs in urban as well as rural areas. For the U.S. economy as a whole, the TPP’s impacts will be “moderate at best,” Sumner and the other researchers wrote. Its most important in- ÀXHQFHPD\EHWRHQWLFH&KL- na and other large Asian econ- omies to join, which would “add substantially to the mar- ket for California agricultural exports,” the researchers con- cluded. mist at the Uni- versity of Cali- fornia-Davis. DAVIS, Calif. — The pro- Further, bet- SRVHGQDWLRQ7UDQV3DFL¿F ter access to Partnership trade pact could imports from EH VLJQL¿FDQW IRU &DOLIRUQLD TPP countries Sumner lowering import barriers and would give enabling more of the state’s U.S. consumers agricultural products to be more spending power, and sent to Japan and other na- thus could increase domestic tions, university researchers demand for California farm conclude. products, Sumner observes in The deal, the full text of an essay outlining the impacts which was unveiled by Pres- of the trade deal. ident Barack Obama’s admin- Freer trade “generally istration on Nov. 5, would also means more economic growth enable California’s industries and expanded markets” at to reach developing markets home and abroad as well as such as Malaysia and Viet- more political and economic nam, asserts a study led by stability, the paper asserts. Daniel Sumner, an ag econo- “California agriculture ZLOO EHQH¿W IURP VWDELOLW\ LQ WKH3DFL¿F5LPPDUNHWV´WKH essay argues. Sumner wrote the analy- sis with the help of research- ers Hyunok Lee and William A. Matthews of the UC’s Agricultural Issues Center, which Sumner leads. The paper was an update for the university’s Giannini Foun- dation of Agricultural Eco- nomics. California now sends about 40 percent of its ex- ported agricultural goods to TPP countries, with about 72 percent of that total shipped to the “big three” — Canada, Japan and Mexico, accord- ing to the Agricultural Issues Center. Proposed ban on chlorpyrifos could have big impact in California NAWG looks to grow wheat acreage By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press 6$&5$0(172 ²$ IHG- eral proposal to ban the pesticide chlorpyrifos for agricultural use could have a big impact in Cali- fornia, where it is used on some 60 crops including tree nuts, or- anges and grapes, regulators say. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is taking public comments on a plan to re- voke food residue tolerances for chlorpyrifos, which is produced by Dow AgroSciences and controls many different pests, including termites, mosquitoes and roundworms. The EPA said on its web- site that humans’ exposure risk to chlorpyrifos could exceed safety standards “in certain wa- tersheds” — particularly small watersheds where the pesticide is heavily used. Chlorpyrifos was banned for residential use about 15 years ago. While the chemical is heav- ily regulated in California and its use has declined, between 1 million and 2 million pounds of chlorpyrifos is still applied to crops in the state each year, said Charlotte Fadipe, a spokes- woman for the state Depart- PHQWRI3HVWLFLGH5HJXODWLRQ “This ... would be a major change for California growers, as it is used on many crops, “Fadipe said in an email. She DGGHGWKH'35KDVEHHQ³DQWLF- ipating for a while” that the fed- eral government would move to limit or ban chlorpyrifos, and '35 GLUHFWRU %ULDQ /HDK\ KDV been encouraging growers to seek alternatives to the organo- phosphate pesticide. Tehama County Farm Bu- reau president Michael Vasey said he has used chlorpyrifos in the walnut groves at Lindauer 5LYHU5DQFKLQ5HG%OXII&D- lif., which he manages. He said he needed to study the EPA pro- posal more thoroughly before commenting on it. He said growers are some- times frustrated by the lack of available alternatives when regulators move to ban various pesticides. For instance, the phaseout of the fumigant methyl bromide began two decades ago, and growers are still looking for technically or economically fea- sible alternatives, he said. Under an August ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the EPA had until Oct. WRHLWKHULVVXHD¿QDOEDQRI chlorpyrifos, put a proposed ban out for public review or deny WKHSHWLWLRQ¿OHGE\WKH1DWXUDO 5HVRXUFHV'HIHQVH&RXQFLODQG the Pesticide Action Network North America. Issuing a proposed revoca- tion allows the EPA to gather SXELFLQSXWEHIRUHPDNLQJD¿- nal decision, which it plans to do by December 2016, according to the agency’s website. Envi- ronmental groups praised the (3$IRU¿QDOO\DFWLQJRQD petition to ban the chemical. “At long last, the agency is signaling its intention to protect children, workers and their fam- ilies by banning this hazardous pesticide,” Earthjustice attorney Patti Goldman said in a state- ment. In recent years, California KDV SXW VLJQL¿FDQW FRQWUROV RQ the use of chlorpyrifos, requir- ing training, licensing and local county approval for anyone who uses it. Growers must tell their county agricultural commis- sioner when, where and how they want to use the pesticide, and counties require buffers of up to 150 feet between the user and a school, river or other sen- sitive site. Last year, the Department of 3HVWLFLGH5HJXODWLRQFRQWUDFWHG with the University of Califor- nia Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program to create FRPPRGLW\VSHFL¿F JXLGHOLQHV for using chlorpyrifos. Teams focused on its use on alfalfa, almonds, citrus fruit and cotton, identifying alternatives as well as instances when use of the chemical is critical to protect- ing the crop. A resulting report by the university examined other pest-control tactics, including planting pest-resistant crop va- ULHWLHV PDWLQJ GLVUXSWLRQ ¿HOG sanitation and other insecticides. However, the teams “agreed that chlorpyrifos is an essential element to their IPM programs to continue pro- duction and quality standards heretofore established for their commodities,” the report’s ex- ecutive summary stated. Almond exports from Cal- ifornia to TPP nations in 2013 were valued at $650 million, with wine and table grapes closely behind at about $500 million in export value each, according to the researchers. Under the TPP, Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam would eliminate tariffs for tree nuts. The current tariff into Japan is just 5.6 percent, but Viet- nam’s tariff is 23 percent, the researchers note. Tariffs for citrus fruit in Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam would also be eliminated. Al- ready, Japan imported about $170 million in California citrus fruit in 2013 despite a 12 percent tariff, and Ma- laysian buyers added another $24 million to California cit- rus exports that year, Sumner wrote. The analysis comes as farm groups nationwide have had mixed reactions to the 30-chapter, 2,000-page agree- ment. The National Potato Council and Northwest Horti- cultural Council were among groups that endorsed the deal, while the National Farmers Union is among its critics. The California Farm Bu- reau Federation is urging the state’s congressional delega- tion to support the deal, ar- guing that the Golden State’s SUR[LPLW\ WR 3DFL¿F 5LP countries uniquely positions the state to gain from it. “California-grown food By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press SPOKANE — The Nation- al Association of Wheat Grow- ers will survey U.S. farmers as D¿UVWVWHSWRZDUGGHWHUPLQLQJ how to increase the amount of wheat grown nationwide. “They need to see more pro- ductivity on their own farms to keep planting wheat, or consid- er wheat as a viable alternative in their rotation,” NAWG pres- ident Brett Blankenship told the Washington Grain Commission at a recent meeting. 7KH VXUYH\ LV WKH ¿UVW VWHS in developing the association’s national wheat action plan, designed to reinvigorate the industry, said Blankenship, a Washtucna, Wash., farmer. In the last two decades U.S. wheat acreage has decreased from roughly 90 million acres to 54 million acres. Most of the decline has occurred in the Midwest. In 1995 farmers in Wash- ington, Idaho and Oregon grew 5.14 million acres of wheat. In 2015 they planted 4.56 million acres. He attributed the decline in the region to an increase in the number of USDA conservation Matthew Weaver/Capital Press Brett Blankenship, president of the National Association of Wheat Growers, addresses the Washington Grain Commission March 11 during a commission meeting in Spokane. NAWG will survey farmers across the country to assess their needs in an effort to increase wheat acreage. reserve program acres. “A farmer who grew wheat now perhaps grows soybeans and corn, and is making almost twice the dollars per acre as he was before, so as an individual farmer, he doesn’t view that as a crisis, he views that as a bene- ¿W´KHVDLG The wheat industry needs WR¿JXUHRXWDZD\WRLQFUHDVH acreage while it’s still healthy, Blankenship said. “If we wait, it may be too late to reverse the trend and we could drift into becoming a more minor crop,” he said. “The smaller you get in your land and economic base, your political base shrinks. “If you want to stay in the game, so to speak, we need to stay a major, growing, vibrant wheat economy,” he said. A study by Texas A&M University predicts that a 20 percent increase in productivity would reverse the downward trend, Blankenship said. He be- lieves that’s within reach with improved management and gains provided through wheat research. ,ISURGXFWLRQUHPDLQVÀDWRU declines, fewer funds collected through assessments are re-in- vested in research or market de- velopment, Blankenship said. Budgets for state commissions will also become increasingly stressed, he said. “This conversation needs to include, ‘What do we really need to prosper?’” Blankenship said. “When you compare our- selves to other industries, even though we have invested sig- QL¿FDQWGROODUVLQWRUHVHDUFKLW pales in comparison to some of the other commodities.” Blankenship hopes to sur- vey farmers by the end of the year. NAWG has raised roughly $250,000 from technical pro- viders to begin the effort. The organization will solic- it other companies that would EHQH¿W IURP JURZWK LQ WKH wheat industry, Blankenship said. NAWG will also spend the next year asking for infor- mation from all sectors of the industry, including export market development and re- search. John Deere Dealers See one of these dealers for a demonstration 46-2/#4N